Veteran benefits in Liberty County, Montana
- Benefits you can claim here
- 32
- Property tax rate
- 1.09
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- The property tax rate, reduced 50–100% by income band, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 152
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Liberty County
The process is the same across Montana for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
32 benefits reach Liberty County. Browse them below.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one specifically.
Get your proof
A VA Benefit Summary Letter from VA.gov covers most of them, in about two minutes.
File with Liberty County
Form DR-501 to the Property Appraiser before March 1. File even without your letter.
How much is a property tax exemption worth in Liberty County?
The rate shown is the county's effective property tax rate - aggregate taxes actually paid divided by aggregate home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. Every overlapping levy, credit and cap is already inside it, which makes it the honest basis for sizing an exemption's dollar value.
These are example savings for a typical home in this county, not an estimate of your own bill. Your actual saving depends on your assessed value, your taxing districts, and how this exemption interacts with any others you hold.
| Effective rate | what homeowners here actually paid |
|---|---|
| Basis | ACS 2023 five-year aggregates |
| The property tax rate, reduced 50–100% by income band (Mont. Code §15-6-311) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (Mont. Code §15-6-311) | the entire bill — about $2,725 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Liberty County Department of Revenue field office |
| Deadline | April 15, every year |
Which document does the Liberty County Department of Revenue field office accept?
Statute sets the floor; the office picks the paperwork.
Easiest · VA Benefit Summary Letter
Sign in at VA.gov, choose Download VA Letters, then Benefit Summary — Veteran Benefits.
All 32 benefits you can claim in Liberty County
All 56 Montana counties get the same statewide law.
other(8)
Montana Does Not Tax Active-Duty Pay — but AGR Pay Is Not Covered
A Montana resident serving on active duty in the regular armed forces subtracts that salary from Montana taxable income, as does a resident on National Guard active duty under federal homeland-defense or contingency-operation orders. The line to be careful about is that the Department of Revenue treats AGR PAY AS NOT EXEMPT — a full-time Guard technician on Active Guard Reserve status is outside this. Documentation of military status must go with the return. Legacy WWI, Korean and veterans' bonus payments are also subtractable under the same statute.
Qualifying active-duty salary subtracted from Montana taxable income in full
Three Different Grants for a Deployed Guard Family — and One Needs No Hardship at All
Montana's Military Family Relief Fund pays DEERS-enrolled dependants of a Montana Guard or Reserve member deployed on federal contingency orders for 30 or more consecutive days, at pay grade O-3/W-3 or below. There are three routes. STATUS-BASED pays $250 per eligible dependant and asks for no hardship at all — deployment is the whole test. NEED-BASED pays up to $2,000 where household income drops 30% or more, or for emergency costs. CASUALTY-BASED pays $2,000 for a nonfatal combat-related injury documented by a Purple Heart award.
$250 per dependant with no hardship test; up to $2,000 on need; $2,000 on a Purple Heart injury
Half Your Survivor Benefit Comes Off Montana Income — for Five Years
Montana lets a recipient of military survivor benefits subtract up to 50% of that income from Montana taxable income. It is not a permanent exemption: MCA 15-30-2120(3)(n)(ii) attaches a FIVE-YEAR LIMITATION, and residency conditions apply whose exact terms we could not establish from the sources reviewed. Because this reaches survivors rather than veterans, it sits outside every list a veteran would read, and a surviving spouse filing a Montana return is unlikely to be told about it by anyone.
Up to 50% of military survivor benefits subtracted, for five years
Working Military Retiree Exemption — Narrow, and Easily Lost
From 2024 Montana exempts the lesser of half your military retirement or your Montana wages — for five consecutive years, only for working retirees, and leaving the state forfeits it permanently.
The lesser of 50% of military retirement income or Montana source earned income, for five consecutive years
Deployment Cannot Be Held Against You in a Parenting Case — Four Sections That Say So
Montana family law protects a parent in military service in four separate places. A court may not decide the child’s best interest on the parent’s military service alone, may not disapprove a final parenting plan only because of it, must treat a modification driven by service orders as temporary and reverting when the service ends, and may not weigh the absence itself once the parent is back. A family member of the deployed parent may be given visitation during the absence.
Military service alone cannot decide the parenting plan; a service-driven modification reverts when the service ends
The Court Can Stop the Eviction Clock for Three Months — and Rewrite the Payment While You Serve
Where a Montana National Guard member on active duty, or a dependant, is sued over non-payment on the mortgage, lease or rental agreement for their primary residence, the court may stay the action for up to three months, may reduce the payment to a reasonable amount given the active duty, and may order the arrears paid over a period beginning after release from active duty. A separate section lets a member ask for any civil action to be stayed.
Up to a three-month stay, a court-adjusted payment, and arrears deferred until after active duty
After Sixty-Two Years the Discharge Becomes a Public Record — and the Division Must Release It
The veterans’ affairs division shall release, on request, a military discharge document that is at least sixty-two years old and is a public record under federal law. The request goes on a form the board prescribes and must carry enough information to locate the document. Where the discharge contains a social security number, that number must be redacted before release.
A copy of an old discharge, released on request, with the social security number redacted
Veterans Treatment Courts Exist Here — But No Section of the Code Names Them
The Judicial Branch runs veteran dockets inside its treatment court system: a drug court here is defined as a docket within a district court or a court of limited jurisdiction specialising in adult criminal, DUI, juvenile, VETERAN or civil child abuse and neglect cases involving persons who are alcohol or other drug dependent, and the first veterans treatment court opened in Missoula in June 2011. The statutes behind them — the drug treatment court part and the mental health treatment court part — never use the word veteran.
A voluntary, court-managed treatment programme of a year or more, with a veteran mentor
recreation(3)
A Purple Heart Is the Licence — Fish and Hunt Birds on the Conservation Licence Alone
A Montana resident awarded the Purple Heart may fish and hunt upland game birds holding only a conservation licence, at any age. Wild turkey is excluded. Legion of Valor members may fish on the same basis. It is keyed to the AWARD, not to a disability rating, so a Purple Heart recipient with no VA rating at all qualifies. The AIS prevention pass is still required. A limited nonresident route exists through veteran-rehabilitation nonprofits, and the state reimburses Fish, Wildlife and Parks from the general fund — so there is no reason for an office to be reluctant.
Fishing and upland game bird licence fees avoided; a conservation licence is enough
Half-Price Camping in Every State Park, for Any Montana Veteran
Montana halves camping fees at its state parks for any resident veteran — no disability rating, no age threshold, no wartime service test. Proof is a DD 214, a VA ID card, or a Montana driver's licence carrying the veteran designation, which is the easiest of the three to keep in a wallet. Electrical fees are excluded, so a powered site is half price on the base fee and full price on the hook-up.
50% off camping fees at Montana state parks
Back From a Contingency Operation: a Free Conservation Licence and Five Years to Use It
A Montana National Guard member, federal reservist or active-duty servicemember who took part in a contingency operation requiring at least two months outside the state receives a complimentary resident conservation licence and a Class A resident fishing or Class AAA combination sports licence, in the year of return and four more years of their choosing. Separately, a veteran with a combat-connected injury buys named deer and antelope licences at half fee.
Conservation licence and a fishing or combination sports licence complimentary, five years; combat-disabled deer and antelope at half fee
education(5)
Montana Guard Tuition — the Last Dollar, at Any Campus in the System
A serving Montana National Guard member in good standing with Initial Entry Training complete has their REMAINING in-state tuition waived at any Montana University System campus, after all other grants and scholarships are applied — up to the annual in-state tuition. A Guard member who does not otherwise meet MUS residency is GIVEN in-state status for the purposes of the waiver, so an out-of-state member is not shut out. Flat-fee courses are excluded, and the application deadline is the THIRD WEEK OF THE SEMESTER, which is the thing that loses it.
Remaining in-state tuition waived after all other aid, up to the annual in-state rate
$1,000 Purple Heart Scholarship — for the Year After You Have Already Started
Montana Veterans Affairs awards $1,000 scholarships to Purple Heart recipients, several each year. The shape is unusual: it is for students who are ALREADY IN — you need one completed academic year at an accredited Montana state university or vocational-technical school, a GPA of 2.0 or better, and current re-enrolment. So it is not a way to start a degree; it is a way to keep going. It is keyed to the award rather than to any disability rating, verified by DD 214 or similar discharge documentation.
$1,000, awarded to several students each year
Last-Dollar Tuition Waiver — For the Veteran Whose GI Bill Ran Out
An honorably discharged resident veteran whose elected VA education benefits have expired or been exhausted attends any university-system campus — undergraduate or graduate — with the remaining in-state tuition waived after every other grant and scholarship is applied.
Remaining in-state tuition waived, last dollar, undergraduate and graduate — fees and flat-fee courses excluded
Tuition AND Fees Waived by Statute — War-Era Veterans
Montana Code 20-25-421 requires the regents to waive full tuition and fees for a Montana resident who served in any of the nation’s wars and was honorably discharged. The same section also covers war orphans, the families of prisoners of war and those missing in action, and the families of Guard members killed on state military duty — those limbs are covered by mt-war-orphans-and-guard-survivor-waivers rather than repeated here.
Full tuition AND fees waived at a unit of the university system
War Orphans Waiver — Tuition Only, Age 25 and Under, Combat-Related Death
The statute promises a tuition and fee waiver to the children of residents killed in service. The Board of Regents policy that actually runs it is narrower: children aged 25 and under, five named conflicts, a combat-related death, undergraduate tuition only — and no fees at all. A separate waiver covers the surviving spouse or child of a Guard member killed on state active duty.
Undergraduate tuition waived at a campus of the state university system — fees are not waived
vehicles(3)
Registration Fees Waived — Two Vehicles at 100%
A veteran rated 100% disabled — or paid at the 100% rate — registers two non-commercial vehicles exempt from all motor vehicle registration fees, and takes two sets of veteran special plates without the cemetery fee. Former POWs share the full waiver; a 50%+ veteran with a Purple Heart gets the registration fee waiver but still pays the cemetery fee. Unremarried surviving spouses keep each route.
All registration fees waived on two non-commercial vehicles, plus two sets of special plates without the cemetery fee
Gold Star Family and Next-of-Kin Plates — and the Plates a Widow May Keep
A family member eligible for the Gold Star Lapel Button may be issued Gold Star Family plates; a family member eligible for the Next-of-Kin of Deceased Personnel Lapel Button may be issued next-of-kin plates. Separately, the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran may keep the special plates already issued to the veteran — but only while unremarried, and never the "DV" plates.
Gold Star Family plates on a DD Form 3, next-of-kin plates on a DD Form 1300, and retention of a deceased veteran’s special plates while the surviving spouse remains unremarried
The "DV" Plate Is a Parking Permit — No Doctor’s Certificate Needed
A plate displaying the letters "DV" entitles the holder to the parking privileges of a medically certified disability permit. The route in is a Purple Heart plus a 50% or higher rating, or a 100% rating or payment at the 100% rate — a VA determination, not a physician’s form. A city, town or county may also exempt that plate from on-street time limits.
Accessible parking entitlement carried by the plate itself, plus a local option to exempt it from on-street time limits
licenses & fees(3)
Licensure Reciprocity for Members, Spouses and Veterans — Including a Temporary Credential
A board may license a service member, military spouse or honorably discharged veteran outright where another state’s requirements are substantially equivalent — and where they are not, must be able to offer a temporary credential so you can practise while you close the gap.
Reciprocal licensure, or a temporary credential while you complete what is missing
The County Clerk Records Your Discharge Free — and It Stays Confidential for Sixty-Two Years
On request, the county clerk must record the discharge document of an honorably discharged person without charge, in a book kept for that purpose. The record is confidential: it goes to the servicemember, to next of kin or a mortuary for burial benefits, to veterans’ service officers and organisations, to the state veterans’ affairs division, or to anyone with written authorisation — and to the public only once sixty-two years have passed.
Recording free, with a local certified copy available instead of an Archives wait
Veteran Status Printed on the Licence, So You Stop Carrying the DD214
A person who wishes to have veteran status shown on a driver’s licence or identification card may have it indicated there, on documentation confirming that status, with the department verifying the status and making rules to carry the section out. It turns a document you keep in a drawer into one you carry in a wallet.
Veteran status on the licence or ID, verified once
housing(2)
Veterans’ Homes — Three of Them, and Residency Is a Factor, Not a Bar
Eligibility for residence is a veteran, or the spouse or surviving spouse of a veteran. Length of residence in the state is one of seven things the department must weigh — which means a veteran who has just arrived is not excluded outright. Montana runs three homes: the Montana Veterans' Home at Columbia Falls, the Eastern Montana Veterans Home at Glendive, and the Southwest Montana Veterans Home at Butte.
Intermediate, skilled nursing and domiciliary care at one of three state homes
A Mortgage One Point Below Market, Paid For by the Coal Trust — and No Income Limit
The Montana Board of Housing runs a first-time-buyer mortgage programme for eligible veterans out of $50 million or more of the Montana housing trust. The interest rate must be one percent below the Fannie Mae delivery rate or one percent below the board’s own lowest rate on other home loan programmes, whichever is less. There is no income limit, and the borrower puts in at least $2,500.
One percentage point off the mortgage rate, on up to 95% of the statewide allowable purchase price
employment(3)
Public Employment Preference — 5 Points, or 10 With a Disability
A public employer using a scored selection procedure must add 5 percentage points for a veteran and 10 for a disabled veteran or an eligible relative. Where the procedure is not scored, the preferred applicant must be chosen over a non-preferred applicant holding substantially equal qualifications.
5 percentage points added to a scored result, or 10 for a disabled veteran or eligible relative
120 Hours of Paid Military Leave for Public Employees, and a Job to Come Back To
Montana runs its own military employment rights act. A state or local government employee in the National Guard or the federal reserves with six months of service is credited 120 hours of paid military leave a calendar year, which may not be charged against vacation and carries over to a ceiling of 240 hours. Any employer, public or private, must give a leave of absence for state military duty, must not deduct it from accrued leave without the member’s wish, and must take the member back with seniority, pay, insurance and pension intact.
120 hours of paid military leave a year for public employees, on top of vacation, carrying over to 240 hours
A Private Employer May Lawfully Prefer a Veteran — and Many Do Not Know It
A private sector employer may adopt an employment policy that gives preference in hiring to a veteran. "Private sector employer" means any employer that is not a public employer, and the section says expressly that this includes for-profit and not-for-profit employers. It is a permission, not a mandate — but it is the answer to an employer who says it would be discrimination.
A lawful hiring preference a private employer may adopt — if it adopts one
burial(2)
County Interment Allowance — Up to $500, Plus $100 to Ship the Headstone
When a Montana resident who was a veteran dies, the county of residence must pay a sum not exceeding $500 towards interment expenses, and up to $100 more for shipping the headstone — unless the heirs or personal representative waive the benefit.
Up to $500 towards interment, plus up to $100 for shipping the headstone
Four State Veterans’ Cemeteries — Nothing for the Veteran, $800 to Open a Spouse’s Grave
The board is required to establish and operate state veterans’ cemeteries. Four now operate: Fort Harrison, Missoula, Miles City and Columbia Falls. A Montana resident veteran is interred at no charge for a casket burial or an above-ground cremation, and the headstone is free to everyone. A spouse or dependant pays an $800 opening and closing fee on top of the setting fee — the single largest number on the schedule and the one families are not told about.
Plot, opening and closing, headstone and perpetual care at no charge for an eligible Montana resident veteran
utilities(2)
Ordered 60 Miles Away: End the Lease, the Phone, the Internet and the Cable — No Termination Fee
A Montana Army or Air National Guard member ordered to a permanent duty station more than 60 miles from the residence may terminate the residential lease, and may terminate a cellular phone, telephone exchange, internet access or multichannel video programming contract that cannot be had at comparable quality and cost at the new station. No early termination fee and no damages for the early termination are payable. Written notice with a copy of the orders takes effect 45 days after delivery.
Lease and telecom contracts ended without early termination fees or damages, on 45 days’ written notice
Heating Help Has No Veteran Door — and Your VA Money Counts Against You
There is no veteran priority, veteran set-aside or veteran discount in the state heating assistance programme. The full programme manual was searched this session and the word "veteran" does not appear in it once. What does appear is "VA" — in the list of income counted when your eligibility is worked out.
No veteran route — an income-tested programme in which VA payments are counted as income
Filing in Liberty County
- Office
- Liberty County Property Appraiser
- Form
- DR-501 for most exemptions; DR-501DV for the combat-related discount; DR-501M for a deployment exemption.
- Deadline
- March 1, every year. Missing it costs the whole tax year — there is no late route back in.
Free help in Liberty County
Liberty County has a County Veteran Service Officer, and their help is free. Go to them for anything touching a federal VA disability claim.
Nobody should charge you to claim the benefits on this page. Unaccredited operators charging fees for VA claims are a real and growing problem.
Common questions about Liberty County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The Montana statewide records apply in every county. We have not researched county-level programmes here, so this page shows state law and complete geography rather than a local layer.
- What is it worth in this county?
- Dollar figures use the county's EFFECTIVE property tax rate - what homeowners there actually paid per dollar of home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. It is an estimate for sizing a saving; the levy table on your own bill governs.
- Where do I file for a veteran property tax exemption in Liberty County?
- File with your County assessor. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Liberty County Department of Revenue field office accept as proof?
- The statute sets what must be proved. An office may tell you which document it prefers, but it may not add a requirement the statute does not contain. We have not researched per-county document quirks in Montana.
Other counties
- Beaverhead
- Big Horn
- Blaine
- Broadwater
- Carbon
- Carter
- Cascade
- Chouteau
- Custer
- Daniels
- Dawson
- Deer Lodge
- Fallon
- Fergus
- Flathead
- Gallatin
- Garfield
- Glacier
- Golden Valley
- Granite
- Hill
- Jefferson
- Judith Basin
- Lake
- Lewis and Clark
- Lincoln
- McCone
- Madison
- Meagher
- Mineral
- Missoula
- Musselshell
- Park
- Petroleum
- Phillips
- Pondera
- Powder River
- Powell
- Prairie
- Ravalli
- Richland
- Roosevelt
- Rosebud
- Sanders
- Sheridan
- Silver Bow
- Stillwater
- Sweet Grass
- Teton
- Toole
- Treasure
- Valley
- Wheatland
- Wibaux
- Yellowstone
This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. Veterans Alliance is privately owned and is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Geography from the US Census; veteran population from the VA VetPop2023 county model.